A House Is Not A Home
by brttnytylr
Summary: Instead of Finn's mother dating Burt Hummel, It was Puck's.  Part of the Deadbeat Parent's and Disappointments universe.
1. Chapter 1

If I owned #GLEE… Oh the possibilities! I could defiantly write something witty here, but I'm a crappy writer as it is so, yeah. I do not own this.

Also, the reason Puck didn't know was that his mother didn't want to tell him cause he'd scare Burt away and Kurt wanted to be the one to tell him, but due to the excitement he simply forgot.

This is in the same universe as "Deadbeat Parent's and Disappointments."

* * *

Puck and Rachel began to walk out of the choir room after a lengthy Glee session full of Mr. Shue's bad white guy rap, when Kurt called them back over to him. He stood proudly in his Cheerio uniform looking over a massive piece of cardboard that was filled with an assortment of fabrics.

"Puck! I wanted your opinion on this. It's a swatch board. I'm redecorating my bedroom and I'm kind of going for a hunting lodge meets Tom Ford's place in Bel Air. I was kinda hoping you could help me out with the hunting lodge part."

Kurt looked up hopefully at the mo-hawked clad teen and was disappointed to see the blank look of confusion that normally Finn sported upon both Puck and Rachel's faces.

"The fuck?" Puck mumbled. "We're going to leave now…"

Puck pulled Rachel out of the room and the lecture she was giving him on 'proper conversation etiquette' could be heard as they walked down the school's corridor towards the Janitor's closet.

* * *

After school that day, Rachel and Puck were doing a little more than just making out on her bed and just as things were about to get heated his phone rang with his sisters ringtone. Puck rushed to get it and as he got off Rachel she let out a loud whine at the loss of contact, he smirked whilst answering his phone.

"What's up?"

Rachel could hear how frantic his sister was and began to gather her clothes from the floor and put them on.

"What? Wait! Mum's doing what now with the furniture?"

10 minutes later, he screeched his truck up outside his house to see a moving van that contained majority of his lounge room and his mother's room. He quickly shut off his engine and ran inside with his girlfriend following him closely behind.

His saw his sister Hannah first sitting on their staircase with tears streaming down her cheeks. Rachel rushed over to her and tried to soothe her, whilst Puck walked around his home looking for his mum. He finally found her in their backyard talking on the phone.

"MA! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"

She quickly hung up the phone and put it down on the outdoor table setting. He also noticed that his barbeque was gone. WHO TAKES A MANS BARBEQUE? The panic began to rise in his chest as he thought that they had finally gone broke and the IRS had come to repo their belongings.

"What do you mean 'what's going on'? You've known that we were going to move for a few weeks now haven't you?"

Puck's mouth dropped open. His mother continued to stare at him with confusion.

"No! Was I fucking drugged when you told me this? Did somebody drug me Ma? I could have been raped!"

His mum gave out a hearty laugh which made him immediately call her a bitch in his mind. Being raped was no laughing matter.

"Calm down drama queen. You were not drugged or raped. Kurt said that he was going to tell you and today he was supposed to ask you about colour schemes for your room."

Now it was Puck's turn to be confused. Why was Kurt supposed to be asking about his bedroom's colour scheme? His mother pushed on though.

"Well, I guess that he was just so excited that he forgot to tell you and just went straight to the planning of your room!"

"Ma. What have you done?"

She looked up at him and smiled.

"I'm seeing someone and he asked us to move in with him. It's your friends Kurt's father. Burt Hummel."

People like to gossip about how Noah Puckerman was scarily similar to Chuck Norris and he's pretty sure good ol' Chuck would have passed out too if he had found out his mum was doin' the nasty with Burt Hummel.

* * *

When he woke up he was in the hospital with 14 stiches in the back of his head and to say it hurt was an understatement. He looked around his room with bleary eyes and noticed Rachel lying next to him with her make-up all run down her face from crying.

One of her arms was thrown over his stomach so he brought up one of his hands to join hers. The contact jerked her awake and looked around to find the disturbance. She noticed his face was turned towards hers with his eyes shut. Tears slowly began to fall from her eyes again.

"Hi baby"

He let a grunt because talking right now was so not an option. The light from the hallway hurt his eyes and he could feel the migraine coming. Rachel got up and out of the bed noticing his discomfort and went to sit in one of the arm chairs provided, but when he grasped her arm she stopped.

"Stay. Light's bright."

She ran a hand over his forehead to wipe away the sweat that had collected there when he thought she was leaving. Rachel quickly and quietly went to the door of his room and shut it, effectively blocking out some of the light from his face. She went back to the bed and got comfortable again, shutting her eyes and holding his large hand with her small one.

When he woke up again it was lunchtime the next day and he was alone. He looked around to try and find the nurses button or a phone. Anything to help him figure out what the hell happened. He finally found the hospital phone and as he was about to pick it up when his mother, along with his little sister and Rachel walked in.

He smiled at the site of his girlfriend and grimaced as he thought about the last time he saw his mother. All 3 girls held a Styrofoam cup full of coffee (Or hot chocolate in his sisters place.) Rachel came over and kissed him softly on the lips. A clearing of someone's throat stopped them from further kissing another.

He looked pointedly at his mother. He knew she was just going to continue on from their last conversation despite the fact that he'd passed out and cracked his head open. His movements were still groggy, but he wanted to feel his head and see if there was going to be an awesome scar or lump at least, but as he moved his hand, he didn't feel the usual roughness of his Mohawk.

He thought that maybe, because of the drugs, he hadn't quite reached the middle of his head and began running his hand all around it. A panicked expression crossed his face. His little sister chose that moment to speak up.

"They had to shave it off cause all your blood was sticking to it when they were trying to stitch your big head back up."

She gave a toothy grin and his panicked expression turned to one of anger.

"So let me get this straight. I've lost my house and now my Mohawks gone?" He turned to Rachel. "Baby, if you leave me, I'm jumping off the roof of this hospital."

Rachel rolled her eyes and sat down in an armchair next to his bed, holding his hand.

"Well, I guess that solves the problem on whether or not he would remember much."

His mother rolled her eyes.

"I swear Rachel; he's a bigger drama queen than you are sometimes"

Puck frowned.

"Alright. Here's what's going to happen. You'll be discharged in a couple of hours and then you're going to come home with me to Burt's house where all your stuff is."

He went to protest, but she just carried on.

"Don't give me lip. Rachel packed all your stuff up and then unpacked it all in your room with Kurt. I didn't see any of it, so you better take her out to dinner or something to make up for it."

Puck's panicked expression made a triumphant return when he found out he was going to be sharing a room with Kurt. Rachel sat back and tried to relax because she knew that this bit of information was going to send him off the cliff.

"We're sharing a room together?"

* * *

Puck always had a bad reaction when he lost enough blood to need a transfusion. When he was 6 years old, his dad beat him to a pulp and he fell down some stairs. He had smacked into the wooden step so hard that it had broken the skin of his back and resulted in him needed 37 stitches, so he'd had more than enough experience with blood transferral.

He couldn't go more than a few metres without having to stop because he'd get too dizzy or people would move to fast and he would chuck, and right now? That bad reaction was rearing its ugly head.

Rachel had called a taxi to take them to the Hummel/Puckerman household. Rachel was sitting in the backseat with Puck rubbing his back as he was being sick into the bucket the hospital provided him. Motion sickness was another symptom of his bad reaction. The cab pulled up in front of the house.

"Do you need another minute, or can you come inside now?"

There was too much happening to him at the moment. His head was spinning, his stomach was lurching and he could feel another migraine coming on. He didn't know what to do with himself.

He let out a helpless whine and Rachel opened up the car door helping find his feet on the ground. She gave the driver money and they began to walk to the front door at snails pace. He made his way up the stairs to the front door and leant against the door frame. He watched as his girlfriend fiddled with her keys until she found the correct one and unlocked the front door.

As they walked through the house he noticed boxes upon boxes that had yet to be unpacked within all the rooms. Everyone was in the kitchen at the back of the house and all looked up as they entered the room.

His mum smiled and grabbed her purse.

"Good, you guys are back. I'm off to go get dinner. I'll be home soon, meanwhile Noah. Why don't you have a shower?"

He didn't even argue, just grunted his answer in return. Rachel sat him down on a chair and rushed to go and talk to his mum about something quickly before she left. He looked around the kitchen and noticed things from his house there, like all the pictures that his little sister had created, made with Macaroni noodles and icy pole sticks.

Burt sat a glass or water down in front of him and grabbed the bucket off him and rinsed it in the sink. Kurt was studying him from the other side of the room with both of his elbows on the table and his head resting on his hands.

Rachel came back into the room and rubbed her hands over his shoulders.

"I'll just grab you some sweats and you can have a shower."

She pressed a kiss to the side of his head and left the room again.

He picked up the glass of water and slowly drank some of it. He was starting to feel a bit better being outside of the hospital, but still felt like he'd passed out and cracked his head open on a concrete slab… Oh wait!

He finished his water just as Rachel came back into the room with his clothes in her hands. She helped him stand up slowly and walked him to the bathroom. He could faintly hear Burt telling her to stay with him so that he didn't die whilst showering. Maybe living with Burt wouldn't be so bad after all. Despite his aching head, he still gave a lecherous smirk.

* * *

After Rach had helped him out of the shower and into his sweats, she made him a plate full of cut up fruit considering he still wasn't keeping anything down and attempted at trying to get him to take his medications.

"No way, Rach. It tastes like shit and it'll make me gag."

Well, he thought he was saying this, but in reality he was still slurring his words because of the fucking happy gas he had been put on. His doctor said it was only supposed to last up to 9 hours, but he was nearly hitting the 24 mark and it didn't seem to be disappearing anytime soon. His doctor failed to mention that it only lasted 9 hours if you eat and manage to keep it down. Fucking bastard.

"If you drink this, I'll flash you"

"Baby, I'm still tripping out. Right now you're wearing nothing at all. At least that's what it looks like to me."

Burt let out a chuckle as he watched the scene play out in front of him. He stopped when Rachel sent a glare his way. She slammed the spoon down on the table and rubbed her eyes. She'd been catering to Puck's every need since he'd arrived at the hospital. She really needed a break.

"I'll be back in a minute."

He nodded and grabbed the bucket from the table and sat it in between his legs, holding his face above it.

She walked out to the front of the house and sat on the porch swing. She took a few calming breaths and looked around the night sky. Inside she could hear her boyfriend gagging and a string of profanities. She assumed that he'd taken the medicine. The front door opened and out came her boyfriends little sister, Hannah.

She jumped up and onto the swing with Rachel, grabbing the brunettes hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

"He's trying to be better. For you he's trying. Noah isn't used to having someone care about him and wait on him."

Rachel gave her a confused look. Hannah continued.

"Every time he gets sick, mum doesn't really seem to care." At Rachel's look of mortification she hurriedly continued. "It's not that she doesn't love him, she does, but majority of the time, I think that she thinks he deserves it. I mean look at him, Rachel."

Tears brimmed in Rachel's eyes. She could still hear Noah gagging and Kurt squealing.

"He wouldn't exactly be the winner of the child of the year award"

She nodded and went back inside. She needed to readjust her patience when it came to her boyfriend. She needed him to know that she wasn't going anywhere.

She walked back into the kitchen to see Kurt standing in his slushie raincoat holding a wooden spoon (?) as his choice of protection, And Burt holding out the bucket ready for Puck to throw back up. She looked down at her boyfriend to see tears springing in his eyes. She could see that he'd taken the medicine, but she swore that she heard him throw everything back up. She looked to the adult with questioning eyes.

"He took his meds, but hasn't chucked yet. He's holding it back, but he looks like he's going to hurt himself to be completely honest."

She looked back down to Noah. He had his eyes shut and a hand over his forehead. She sighed.

"Baby, it's alright. You can throw up. We'll just get you into bed and try to sleep it off"

He slowly shook his head. His knee started bouncing and he began to get jittery. It was sort of like when someone had the hiccups and didn't want them anymore. So they hold their breath until they're gone. Rachel began to worry that he was going to pass out.

She instructed him to keep breathing while she ran a hand across his back in soothing circles. He let out a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. Everyone was staring at him. He sent a quick glare to Kurt who was still holding that damn wooden spoon!

"Are you ok?"

He looked to Rachel and nodded. Burt set another glass of water in front of him and he slowly drank from it.

"Alright, well let's get you into bed."

She helped him stand up, but then he shook her hand off him to try and regain some of his balance on his own. The room span for a few seconds, but then it stilled and he could see straight. He followed Rachel down the stairs into the basement, which was now Kurt's and his room.

It was natural instinct for him to size it up and make note on which stairs were the one's that made noise. There weren't any windows, which was going to make it quite difficult for him to sneak in or out to see Rachel, but he could think about that later. His eyes swept around the room and he noticed his laptop sitting upon his old dresser.

His desk sat in the corner with his CD's, DVD's and posters stacked neatly on top of it. Some photo frames that he'd had since he was a kid were there also, but left in a pile so that he could arrange it how he felt.

And then, smack bang in the middle of the room was something he'd never ever thought he would have to use. A bunk bed. Rachel softly laughed at his look of mortification. Kurt ran over to it and began to act like one of the models from the Price is right or some shit. He was waving his arms around the beds like they were some prized possession.

"Baby, I've got to go home. I spent the night at the hospital and all day today with you and I told my dads that I'd be home tonight. I'll call you tomorrow morning to see how you feel."

Rachel quickly kissed him on the cheek and left him with Kurt. And the bunk bed.

He walked hesitantly over it and sat down on the bottom bunk. It wasn't as comfortable as his old mattress, but for tonight it would have to do. He and Rach could break it in later. He smirked at the thought and lay down. Kurt finally finished rubbing green crap onto his face, turned the lights off and went upstairs, whispering goodnight as he left.

Puck tried to get comfortable, but there was something digging into his back. He felt around underneath himself and found his mobile phone. As he was placing it under his pillow so he wouldn't lose it during the night, it began to buzz indicating that he had a new text message.

He flipped it open to see an unopened envelope on the screen with "Wifey" written on it. He remembered the day well when she was going through his phone and discovered that she was only under "Rachel Berry." She'd jokingly put her name as 'Wifey', but he had never changed it. He smiled and clicked the accept button to open the message.

_**Wifey 9:04pm:**_** You know that I abhor this kind of juvenile behaviour, but since you've had a pretty hard past 2 days and what would seem to be a hard next few months, I felt an exception was needed.**

He scrolled down through all the text to the attachment that came with it. It was a picture of Rachel, in one of his t-shirts and nothing else. She pouted playfully into the camera. Everyone thought he was a boob's man, but when it came to his girlfriend, he was a legs man hands down and in this photo they were shown off in all their bare glory.

He smirked and set the photo as his phone wallpaper and then typed out his reply.

* * *

Rachel sent her boyfriend the text and settled into her bed. She needed to go to school the next day, but doubted she even make it out of bed with the lack of sleep she'd had over the weekend.

Her phone buzzed with 'New text message from Husband' on the screen and she smiled. She loved getting text messages from him just so she could read to word 'husband.' Her name on his phone was 'Wifey', but she was sure that he'd changed it to something derogatory by now. She hit the accept button on the message.

_**Husband 9:07pm:**_ **Thnx baby. I hope dis brightens ur nite ;)**

She frowned and scrolled down to the attachment. She let out a laugh at the photo of his penis, rolled over and went to sleep.

* * *

Ok, so Sassy26 told me not to be a, and I quote "Review Whore," so now when if I ask for reviews I feel incredibly guilty. #subliminalmessagesftw ;)

If you want this to continue, can you please help me out because I don't know where to go from here. You're help really would be appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Alright. I'm aware that there was bit of a wait for this next part and I'm really hoping it was worth it cause it was really hard to write.  
I would like you all to know that **Sassy26** beta'd this for me. I love her so much. She's hilarious. You should follow her on twitter and go read her fics. Brilliance!

Thank you for sticking with this!

But seriously. Go and read **Sassy26** fics. They really are awesome!

* * *

Puck was pretty much verging on insomnia. It had been a few days now since his family had moved in with the Hummel's and he still wasn't sleeping properly. He wasn't sure if it was the bed (he was not, under _any_ circumstances, telling anyone about the bunks) or if it was just the move in general, but either way, the only sleep he'd had was medicated and he did not want to take the drugs just to get some shut eye.

He held down the button on the remote control that changed the channels on the Hummel's flat screen and just watched, entranced, as the pictures flashed in front of his eyes. He wasn't sure how long he'd sat there for but when he looked up the sun was beginning to rise and he could hear the shower running in his mother's room. He looked over to the clock; he hadn't sleep for 2 days now.

It wasn't that he wasn't tired, because lets face it - he was. He just couldn't sleep in this damn house. He turned the television off with a flick of his thumb and walked into the kitchen to grab the bacon. He found his barbeque the night before and made it a habit to use it everyday so she (yes, 'she'. He'd bought her after his first pool cleaning job and it was one of his best investments yet) wouldn't feel neglected.

As he fired the grill, he let out a yawn and threw the bacon onto the pan. As he watched it sizzle, the glass sliding door opened and out came Burt in his navy blue overalls.

Burt looked Puck up and down. He was wearing sweats and looked more like a delinquent, forced to spend a rough night camped out in an alleyway than simply a sleep deprived kid. He shook his head and walked over to him, snagging a piece of bacon from the plate Puck had set on the outdoor table.

"How are you feeling, kid?"

Puck shrugged, "Like death," he replied huskily. He tried to clear his throat, but all that did was cause him more pain.

"Are you sure you don't want those pills? They might help."

Puck shot him his deadliest look and ground his teeth together.

"No, I don't want the fucking pills!"

Burt put his hands up in mock surrender and grabbed for another piece of bacon. His brows furrowed deep in thought.

"Are you even allowed to eat this?"

Puck just smirked and dished more onto the plate. Burt gave him one last searching look before leaving him to it, disappearing back into the house.

He really hated the idea of having to take medication to get through life. He always remembered that one day when he had come home from school after catching the bus, because his dad had forgotten to come and get him. He had walked into the living room, ready to dump his bag on the floor and lose himself in afternoon cartoons, but those plans had been shot to hell when he saw his father lying on the couch with an empty pill bottle on the ground.

Puck had rushed to his dad's side and tried to wake him up by hitting him in the stomach and slapping his face. Nothing had worked. In the end he had rung an ambulance that had taken his dad to the hospital and pumped his stomach. He must have only been 5 or 6 years old, but he'd always remembered the words his father said to him as his slipped out of unconsciousness for a few seconds.

"_You should have let me die."_

Puck pushed the memory back in the furthest recess of his mind and tried to focus on cleaning the greasy tray in front of him. He scraped it as hard as he could, even though there wasn't anything let on it to scrape off.

He threw down the spatula in defeat, grabbed the full plate of bacon and walked inside, hoping a lengthy shower might revive him. He put the plate on the kitchen bench without attempting to eat any. He wasn't even hungry anymore.

* * *

After getting ready for the day he walked into the room that his sister was supposed to be calling her bedroom, but was actually just a study with the desk removed. As he walked in, he noticed that the room was clean rather than the mess of boxes and Styrofoam peanuts it was the day before, and the little girl was missing.

He frowned and walked back into the lounge room to see her sitting on the floor, cross legged and ready for her school day. Puck consulted the clock. There was still an hour before she had to leave and normally he was still trying to get her out of bed now.

"Hey squirt, what are you doing up?"

She took her eyes off the television for a moment to look at him and then reverted them back.

"Burt woke me up with bacon and made me promise to not tell mom"

Puck grunted in reply and walked downstairs to go and wake up Kurt. As he got to the bottom step, he noticed a box on his junk on the floor underneath his desk he hadn't seen before. Opening it up, he saw it held a bunch of toys that must have made its way from his old room at their other house.

Laying on top was a slingshot that he and Finn had made out of sticks and lots of rubber bands. There was a little plastic zip-lock back filled with ball bearings underneath it. Puck grinned, this opportunity was too good to be wasted.

He quickly grabbed one of the little silver metal balls and lined it up straight for Kurt's stomach.

He watched as the smaller boys lips moved and he swore that he heard the name "Finn" come out breathily from between them, but there was time to worry about that later.

"Hey Hummel!"

He fired and it landed in the centre of Kurt's stomach with a pop. The small boy lurched forward after the attack and loudly gulped for air. He looked around to find the culprit and Puck grinned when their eyes connected.

"Come on Princess, we're gonna be late for school and we gotta go and get my girl!"

With that, Puck stalked back up the stairs, grabbing his phone on the way.

* * *

The Mohawk clad teen reached into the driver's side window and tooted the horn _again_. He'd been waiting close to 15 minutes for Kurt to come out of the house so they could leave to get Rachel and then go to school. At this rate, they were all going to be late.

Finally the front door opened and out walked (strutted) the small porcelain boy. He had a satchel draped over his shoulder whilst one hand continued to run through his thick hair. He looked Noah up and down, let out a huff and jumped into the driver's seat as Puck jumped into the back, throwing his bag into the trunk.

The car screeched out of the driveway and towards Rachel's house. Puck had to give Kurt credit, the guy didn't drive like girl like he'd expected him too. Actually, Kurt Hummel was pretty much the poster boy for reckless driving. He didn't stop at red lights (he just checked to make sure there were no cars and sped up), he overtook every car he could and nearly ran over crossing ladies. He did all of this whilst yelling profanities at everyone and checking his hair in the review mirror.

Puck sat there terrified. He thought he was being badass by not wearing his seatbelt, but today he had his on as tight as it would go and was actually praying to Gods, Mario Kart and whoever else was listening that he got out of this car and to his girlfriend's house alive!

Kurt finally took his attention in the review mirror away from his hair and onto Puck's face. He reached down into his bag and rummaged around in it for a few seconds before releasing a victorious "SUCCESS!" He pulled out a small black case, placing it in his lap and unzipping it. Puck could hear the rustling of plastic and a curious look crossed his face. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what was in Hummel's bag.

Kurt gave him a wide smile and handed Puck a small black container with a small brush inside it.

"Um… Thank you?"

Noah placed the container on the seat next to him and continued to look out the window. Kurt rolled his eyes and reached behind him onto the seat to grab the black case and hand back to Puck.

"You should use it. Your skin looks sallow"

Puck's look of confusion only grew. _What the fuck did 'sallow' mean?_

"It's man-blush"

Puck just blinked at him.

"You know… for your cheekbones?"

"What the fuck is wrong with my cheekbones?"

Kurt rolled his eyes again.

"Nothing is _wrong_ with your cheekbones, it's just your lack of sleep lately is making your skin tone lose it's vibrant colour!"

Puck just blinked at him again and Kurt let out a defeated sigh.

"Puckerman! Put on the make-up!"

Noah's eyes widened like saucers and he threw the man-blush towards the front seat like a child. He wiped his hands on his shirt like they were diseased and rolled his tongue like he had eaten something that had given him a bad aftertaste.

They finally pulled up outside Rachel's and Puck jumped out, still shaking his body trying to forget the "Man-Blush fiasco of 2010". He rang the doorbell and waited patiently for the door to open.

A few seconds later he could hear his girlfriend thundering down her stairs and the front door whipped open to reveal her mega-watt smile.

"Hi baby!"

She launched herself at him and he caught her around his waist, tucking his hands under her bottom as she wrapped her legs around his hips. It was a battle of teeth, lips and tongue and in the end the winner was…..the car horn?

They detached their lips from one another and turned to see Kurt pointing to an imaginary watch on his wrist. Rachel rolled her eyes and went to grab her bag, but Noah beat her to it. They walked together to the car holding hands as Puck threw her bag in the trunk with his and they both climbed into the backseat together.

As soon as the door was shut and Puck had made sure that both of their seatbelts were on, he dragged her head towards his once again.

* * *

Puck casually strode down the corridors of McKinley high school; people parted like the red sea as they saw him and he couldn't contain the smirk that threatened to cross his lips. There was one student who didn't move from their place in the middle of the hall and Puck's smirk turned into a frown as he realised who was in his way: Jew-Fro.

Jacob pushed his glasses further up his nose, cleared his throat and turned on the tape recorder.

"I'm here with Noah Puckerman, resident McKinley bad-ass to talk about his new living arrangement. Puck, was it your choice to use bunk beds?"

Puck's jaw dropped. He saw Kurt out of the corner of his eye trying to appear invisible and sneak past him. He grabbed the collar of the expensive looking silk shirt and pulled the smaller boy closer to him. Puck was practically growling.

"Did you tell him about the bunks?"

Kurt furiously shook his head and started stuttering stuff in French. Puck scanned his eyes over the boy's face.

"Beyonce! English man, I don't know what the fuck you're saying!"

Kurt took a few calming breaths and pried the larger boy's hands off him.

"When we were buying them, Dave Karovsky was there getting a new table or something, they were looking in the mahogany section and-"

Puck's face darkened.

"And obviously that's not important right now… I think he may have seen us buying the bunks?"

Kurt managed to detangle himself and ran off; Puck just rubbed a hand over his face to calm himself down. He looked up to see Jacob still standing there with the tape recorder in his outstretched hand, with the red light flashing indicating that it was recording. He snatched it out of his hands, ripping the tape out and stuffing it into his pocket.

Jacob continued to stand there.

"Get the hell out of here, Jew-Fro!"

He quickly scampered off and Puck stalked down the hall, keeping an eye out for Karovsky. He spotted his girlfriend at her locker, putting books inside it and made his way over to her. He laid a kiss on the side of her head, still scanning the halls. Her voice pulled him out of his trance.

"Oh, no you don't. It's not even half way through the day yet. You're not getting into a fight right now."

_How do girlfriends even know these things?_

Puck quickly defended himself, "I'm not going to get into a fight."

She rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh and I'm not going to be the best Maria on Broadway. Just promise me."

He gave a soft chuckle; she_ always_ managed to turn everything into a discussion about Broadway. He looked up and spotted Karovsky at the other end of the hallway.

"I promise. I'll be back in a minute alright?"

She nodded and went back to arranging her books in her locker.

"KAROVSKY!"

The said boy looked up with a smile.

"Oh, hey _Noah_! We were just talking about you and your faggy little brother's bunk beds!**"**

Puck went to raise his fist and meet it with Dave's face, but before he could even draw back his elbow to get enough force to make the impact really sting, someone else's fist flew past his face and landed with a soft whack onto Karovsky's.

Dave looked up in shock and laughed. Puck turned around and saw Kurt behind him, fuming, his shoulders heaving with every breath. Dave continued to laugh, then without warning threw a clenched fist at Kurt's face that landed with a deafening crunch.

Puck watched as Kurt fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. Everyone in the hall stopped to look for the commotion. Puck looked back up at Dave.

"Hey!"

Puck immediately started to pummel the hockey player's face. Soon Dave realised what was happening and started to throw punches back. Rachel quickly ran from her locker dropping everything she was holding to pull Kurt's lifeless body from in between the crossfire created by the two boys. She looked back to see them now wrestling on the floor.

"Somebody stop them!"

She screamed at all the students who just stood there watching. Soon enough, Matt, Mike and even Finn were trying to pull them apart.

* * *

Puck sat in a chair in the nurse's office, while a still unconscious Kurt lay on the bed. Rachel was pacing in front of him and watching the constant motion of her body was making him sick. His head hurt like a bitch, he was fairly sure that some of the stiches had come out as well.

"I can't believe you! You said you weren't going to look for a fight. You promised me, Noah!"

He looked down, guilt ridden.

"I'm sorry."

He looked up to see tears in her eyes. She had her arms crossed over her chest and he wasn't even trying to look at her boobs this time. She bit her bottom lip to keep from letting the tears spill over her cheeks.

"I don't believe you."

With that, she walked away just as the school nurse came back into the room.

"Boys, your father is here"

Puck's fists clenched again.

"He's not my-"

A small whiney sound was released from Kurt's lips as he sat up and touched his face. His nose was red and bloody and his eye was slightly swollen, bruises that would fade over time.

"You alright man?"

Kurt blearily looked over at Puck and attempted a small grin. He winced as the pain shot through to his eyes and just simply nodded.

"Thank you for sticking up for me."

To be completely honest, Puck wasn't sure why he threw that punch at Karovsky. He didn't think it was because he was defending Kurt. It _may_ have been because you don't hit girls, but then again it might not have been. His thoughts were all jumbled up and he couldn't see straight.

_Yep. Definitely_ _tore some stiches._

He could feel the blood dripping from his scalp down the back of his t-shirt. He looked over to the door to see Burt Hummel rush in and go straight towards Kurt. For some reason, his heart clenched and he felt this sickening feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

Burt helped Kurt stand and then began to fuss over Puck's head.

"You've ripped a couple of stiches out, kid. We're gonna have to go to the hospital. Where's Rachel?"

Puck looked towards the door hoping that she hadn't really left him alone here. Maybe she was just in the hallway and was going to yell "Surprise! I was only joking. I understand why you beat Karovsky to a pulp!" As they walked into the hallway together, there was no surprise and there was no Rachel.

* * *

I won't ask you to review, but it would be nice if you did, even just to let me know if you don't like something or you're confused. Just let me know :)  
(Don't forget about **Sassy26** ;))


	3. Chapter 3

After getting back from the doctors office with his head restitched, Puck stalked down the basement stairs and angrily threw his backpack into the corner of the room where it landed with a loud thud as it hit some of Kurt's storage shelves. He ran a hand over his face and clenched his teeth together; everything about this room he'd come to hate.

Burt helped Kurt slowly descend the stairs and looked perplexedly at the bunk beds. Kurt was too weak to climb up into the top bunk and if he fell off it, he could cause some serious damage to his head.

"Noah, do you mind if Kurt sleeps in your bed until he feels better?"

Without waiting for an answer, he slowly walked Kurt to the bunks until Puck stopped them with a menacing growl.

"It's Puck to you! And no, he can't fucking sleep in my bed. I fucking hate it here, I fucking hate the bunks and I fucking hate you. Fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

Puck hurriedly ran back up the stairs and into the kitchen. He searched through all the drawers looking for his car keys that his mother had hidden from him when they first moved in and he'd split his head open. He could hear Burt coming back up the stairs and he searched faster.

The kitchen door slammed open and shut and he could sense Burt right behind him, but he didn't look up.

"Look kid, I'm aware of the fact that being here wasn't your first choice and that you weren't even told till the day of the move, but I thought things were going alright, you know? I thought you were beginning to like it here."

Puck scoffed and riffled through some more drawers.

"If the bunks make you uncomfortable then we'll get separate beds, but come on - you've got to work with us here. We're trying to be accommodating, but you just shut us out. We don't know how to react around you!"

Puck stood up and slammed the drawer he was looking through closed.

"Oh, you don't know how to act? Well how's this for a suggestion: how about everybody here stops pretending that we're all one big happy family and that we all want to be here? We aren't and we don't!"

Burt drew in a deep breath and Puck opened a cupboard above the sink only to find a container full of take-out menus. He carefully put the container back into the cupboard and craned his neck to look into it some more.

"I'm not trying to be your father Noah, but I do care for your mother very deeply. If you don't want to be part of this family, then there's the door"

"Dad, what's going on? Noah, you're not leaving are you?"

Puck and Burt looked away from each other to see Puck's younger sister standing in the doorway with her school bag perched on her shoulder and tears brimming in her eyes.

"Not trying to be our dad huh?" Puck spat accusingly.

He went to shut the cupboard only to see a glint of silver. He reached his hand into the cupboard and pulled out his car keys. He put them into his pocket and walked over to his sister, crouching down so that he was at eye level with her.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning, alright? I'm not leaving you; I just need some time to clear my head. Ok?"

She nodded and hugged him around his waist. He heard a muffled 'I love you' and repeated the sentiment back to her quietly, kissing her hair before walking out the front door.

He hit the automatic lock to open his truck and climbed inside it. He ran his hands over the steering wheel lovingly whilst mumbling sweet nothings to it. Once the keys had been turned in the ignition, the truck roared to life and Puck pulled out from the side of the street where he'd been parked.

* * *

At first he just drove aimlessly around Lima, trying to figure out what he was going to do about everything. He knew he needed to fix things with Rachel. That one seemed like the easier problem to solve. A simple "I'm sorry" followed by an "I love you" and everything would be good as new.

He swerved his truck into an illegal u-turn that would make Kurt Hummel proud and headed towards his girlfriend's house. He spent the 3 minute drive thinking about how to approach the problem with her, but decided to just go with the flow.

He parked in her empty driveway and walked casually to her front door. He raised a fist to knock only to have the door swing open and one of her fathers smile at him.

"Noah, hello! Rachel's been expecting you. She's in her room."

Puck's jaw dropped and he nodded dumbly. He quickly came inside and hung his jacket over the chair by the front door. He placed his keys inside one of the pockets and went upstairs to Rachel's room, smiling in thanks to her dad.

He knocked twice and let himself into her room. He found her sitting on her bed with a big brown cardboard box in front of her, holding a pile of photographs in one hand and a scrunched up tissue in the other. She looked over at him as he came closer to her.

Puck cleared his throat and began to start what would be an awkward conversation.

"Hey…"

She looked at the photographs again and without looking up, replied with a soft, "Hi."

She dropped the pictures into the box hastily and got up off her bed, throwing away the used tissue. She stood up straight and leant against her dresser with her arms crossed over her stomach. She was still refusing to look at him; she gazed at the ceiling, stared at the Broadway playbills framed on her wall - her eyes were focusing on anything but him.

Puck rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

"Look, about today… I know I promised you that I wouldn't fight and I still don't know why I did it, but I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I love you."

She scoffed and looked towards him finally. There were tears brimming in her already red eyes and her arms dropped.

"You're sorry? You love me?"

She was angry and this was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to say everything was ok and then they would make-out for a while. Then, when she asked what time his curfew was, he'd tell her about what happened in the Hummel household today and she'd offer to let him to spend the night in her room. She wasn't supposed to get angry and yell at him, that wasn't part of the plan.

"Noah, I'm not one of those girls whose requests and opinions you can just ignore and expect that you telling them you love them is going to make everything fine. I don't know why you thought I was, but what I do know is that I don't think we should be together anymore."

Yeah, this totally wasn't supposed to happen.

She took a deep breath and continued, "I don't like the person I've become, Noah"

Some tears fell from her eyes.

"I disregard teachers to make-out with you, I've skipped class to go and make-out with you, I neglect my homework to make out with you - I even sent you dirty pictures!"

She was now sobbing. All Puck wanted to do was take her in his arms and tell her everything was ok, that she was still the same girl she was when they first started dating, but they both knew that was a lie.

"I haven't had a solo in Glee for months. I've become complacent, Noah. I'm not this person and I don't_ want_ to be this person. I've lost track of who I am over some high school romance."

She raised a hand to her forehead and looked away, not seeing Puck flinch. She took a few deep breaths and tried to continue without her voice cracking.

"I need to find myself again, get back the parts I've lost. I need to be _me_ again. It's the only way I'm going to get out of this town, Noah. You can understand that, right?"

All he could do is nod and try not to cry. He didn't know what to do or say to make anything better. How did they get here? They were Puckleberry! They had a couple's nickname! People with couple's nicknames didn't break up!

Rachel let out a sigh of relief and a whispered a thank you before hugging him around the waist one last time. He buried his face into her hair and tried to get her scent imprinted in his mind. She tried to let go of him, but only held on tighter. A few tears fell from his eyes, but he didn't move an arm to wipe them away. He just kissed the top of her head and walked out of her bedroom, out of her house and out of her heart.

* * *

After Puck left, Rachel fell to the floor and cried. She still loved him, she felt that a part of her would always love him, but she knew she'd done the right thing. She needed to get out of this town. Her voice was the only thing that was going to do that for her. She needed it to be at 110% and return to her strict practice regime so she (and her voice) was able to belt out any number, in any range whenever the situation called for it. She refused to be a Lima loser.

She glanced around her room and everywhere she looked she saw Puck. Looking at the brown box on her bed, she got up and went through the items she'd begun to pack away. Inside contained some of the things that reminded her of him. Photographs, his football sweatshirts, notes that they had written to each other to pass the time in class, mix tapes. This was only a handful of items that needed to be packed away out of the room.

Rachel closed the full box, placed it in her doorway and started to collect the rest of the items to go into her "Noah boxes".

* * *

Puck was once again just driving aimlessly around Lima. Now where the fuck was he supposed to go? He was kind of banking on crashing at Rachel's for the night.

Fucking Rachel Berry.

He let out a slew of curses and hit the steering wheel. Of course they were going to break-up because of her. He doesn't even know why he bothers with girls anymore. None of them are ever happy with him. He was like, girl happiness kryptonite.

He swiped angrily at the tears that were still falling from his eyes. Not badass, not badass at all!

* * *

After driving around until his man-tears dried, he pulled over into his mother's hospital parking lot. He spotted her sitting on one of the outdoor benches having a cigarette. He gave a soft chuckle; Burt had made her give them up when they first moved in and she would find any excuse to leave the house just to have a few drags. He quickly exited his truck and slowly walked towards his mum. She had her eyes closed and had yet to notice him. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"Busted."

She jumped up in shock and smacked his arm whilst clutching her chest. He sat down on the bench next to her and she offered him the deck of cigarettes. This is what he loved about his mother; She was like, the original badass, offering him cigarettes whilst police cruisers slowly drove around the car park behind ambulances.

He handed the deck back and took the lighter she offered. As he lit up and took a deep drag his mother let out a weary sigh.

"You never come and visit me at work unless something's wrong. So spill."

He rolled the white stick between his fingers and thought for a moment. He'd start with the big blow first.

"Rach and I broke up."

She drew in a breath like it was _physically_ hurting her and clutched her chest once more.

"Oh Noah… I'm sorry."

He nodded and rubbed the back of his head, taking another drag.

"And I got into a fight at school today. Kurt got hurt."

"Noah!"

Her mouth dropped open and people around them turned to look at the commotion.

"Is he ok?"

Puck shrugged and took another drag.

"I also sort of got kicked out of the Hummel's…"

His body tensed, waiting for his mother to physically beat him. At least if she did some real damage it wouldn't take long for him to get help, you know, sitting in the hospital parking lot. Instead all he got was the packet of cigarettes thrust into his lap. He looked up questioningly at his mother.

"You need these more than I do!"

"Really?"

She hesitated before taking them back carefully in her arms.

"No. What happened at home?"

He tensed again. _Home_. It was not his home. It was just some place that he stored his shit until he had enough money to move out and into his own place. A place somewhere that wasn't within the confined walls of Lima, Ohio.

"I don't know. I guess I just lost it. Burt was talking about putting Kurt in my bed cause he couldn't get up on the top bunk or something and then Hannah came in and called Burt dad and fuck Ma! He's not our Dad! Then I went to Rachel's and she broke up with me cause she doesn't want to be who she is or some shit and then I came here and my head really fucking hurts right now, Ma!"

He heard his Ma whisper to watch his language before letting out a sob. He tried to contain the next one, but when he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders it was like the dam had been broken. All the emotions that he'd been repressing for the past few weeks were slowly unravelling. At that moment he didn't care what people thought of him, sitting there sobbing against his mother. He didn't know what to do and for the first time in his life, that yeah, even though he says crap about her regularly, he needed his mother, now more than ever.

After a few minutes his sobs died down into sniffles. He could feel his mom's arm rubbing his back in slow, soothing circles. He accepted the comfort that the small gesture gave off.

"I think we should talk about Burt."

She took a deep breath and her hand faltered against his back for a moment before continuing to rub soothing circles.

"Even though I'm not home very often, when I'm with our family and the Hummel family… I'm _happy_"

She tried the word out on her tongue like it was foreign. She gave a small smile and looked downwards before continuing.

"Noah, I don't think I've felt this way since your dad left. I don't think I was even this happy when you brought Rachel home for the first time!"

Puck let out a snort and wiped his eyes.

"I like the feeling of having someone to come home to and knowing that you don't have to have the responsibility of getting Hannah ready for school, or driving her places. I thought maybe you'd love living at the Hummel's cause Burt's a mechanic and you love cars. They're badass."

Even though he knew that she was mocking him, Puck let the smile he was trying to keep in cover his face. She bumped his shoulder and he let out a laugh.

"I guess I just thought that when he first offered for us to move in with him, you wouldn't be so quick to reject the idea. It wasn't like I said yes straight away. I thought and stressed about it for weeks on end before finally making up my decision. You're right in the fact I should have been the one to tell you, but Kurt was just so excited and I didn't want to take that away from him!"

His back tensed again. She took a deep breath before removing the arm from around his shoulders.

"If you're really not happy living there and being apart of their family, we'll move back into our old house."

She checked the watch on her wrist and made a move to stand back up.

"I just thought that you'd enjoy living like a teenager instead of having to play dad to Hannah. I really want this to work, Noah. Please just give it some more time, for me. I have to go back in, but you'll be ok tonight?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I uh, I think I'm going to go back to the Hummel's."

She gave him a large grin, kissed his forehead and walked through the large automatic glass doors. His mother had given him a lot to think about and he didn't want to disappoint her, so he made his way back to his truck and started driving towards the Hummel household. How owed Burt an apology.

* * *

I'm really sorry about the wait and I'm hoping it was worth it. First off, Glee obviously isn't mine, so consider this disclaimed. Second, A REALLY BIG THANK YOU TO SASSY26!  
She is the brilliant one who beta's this and puts up with my friendship. I'm quite possibly the most intense (read: insane) person in the world and she just steps away from me with a smile on her face! I love her lots and lots!

You guys know the drill. Any questions, problems or you just have a down right problem with me just leave it in the review box :)  
I like hearing from you guys! I hope you've all had a lovely week!


	4. Chapter 4

I'm really sorry about the wait. I did have this written and then it somehow got deleted off my laptop so I had to write it all again.  
A big big big thank you to **Sassy26** for being my beta. Go read her fics, they are amazing and I'm so happy to have her as my twitter friend!

This chapter is a little (try alot) shorter than previous. Only because the next chapter will be the last and then the epilogue.  
Getting reviews from you all makes me so happy. I also like knowing the things you liked and didn't like, so drop me a line and let me know how I'm doing :)

Thank you for reading this. I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Puck sat idly in his truck in front of the Hummel house. Well, Hummel/Puckerman house he guessed now. He ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath. He could see through the front window and saw Hannah playing Nurse to Kurt who looked like he would be better off without her flittering around him as he lay like a ragdoll on the couch. With shaking hands, he took the keys out of the ignition and got out of the car. He swayed as he stood on his feet and now understood why the doctor had said not to drive anywhere for the next few weeks.

He made his way up the pebbled path and to the front door. His keys felt heavier and heavier with each step. He looked down at them resting in his palm and inserted the bright red key that Kurt had cut for him into the deadbolt on the door and let himself in. He could hear his sister before he saw her. She had rushed away from Kurt's side in hope of her brother returning. Hannah threw herself into Puck's arms and held onto him tightly. If anyone mentioned the fact that there were a few (MAN!) tears running down his face, he'd deny it till the cows came home… then he'd probably rush to shoot the cows so that they didn't make it home.

"I thought you were never going to come back like _him_!"

Puck's face covered with confusion as he pulled her head back from his shoulder.

"What are you talking about? I told you I was coming back"

She wiped the tears she had cried away along with some of his before continuing.

"That's what _he_ said as well. _He_ lied."

His jaw dropped.

"You remember that? You weren't even 3 at the time!"

Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Noah, I'm 7 not stupid. Did you really think I would not remember our own fath- …_him_ leaving us?"

Puck frowned before holding her closer to him and moving into the lounge room where Kurt rested peacefully upon the old velvet couch. He grabbed some of her Barbies in one hand whilst still holding her and took her to her room so that Kurt could continue to rest without any interruptions.

As he put Hannah down on her bed and had given her the Barbies, he went to leave, but her small voice stopped him.

"Noah? Can you sing me to sleep tonight? You haven't done it since we moved here and… please?"

She bit her bottom lip as she awaited his answer. Puck nodded and gave her a small smile. He walked back over to her and kissed her forehead before leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He tip-toed past Kurt and walked around the house silently, looking for Burt. As he searched it gave him time to think of the big ass apology he was going to have to give him. He'd said some pretty awful things from the day they moved in and was pretty sure that Burt felt like shit majority of the time he was around him. He needed to fix that. After he stopped slushee-ing Rachel he'd promised himself that he'd never do anything to make another person feel like shit unless they deserved it. Burt sure as hell did not deserve it.

After he had searched the entire house, the only place that was left was the back patio. He slid the door open and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. A habit he'd picked up for when he was nervous. Burt's back faced him and Puck watched as he saw a puff of smoke rise above the older man. He scuffed his sneaker on the ground as he slowly walked over to him.

"God, does everyone in this house smoke or am I just special today?"

Burt jumped and quickly threw the cigarette to the ground, stomping on it. He turned to look at Puck, wiping his hands on his flannel shirt.

"Smoking's a terrible habit. Don't smoke! Disgusting!"

Burt avoided Pucks eyes.

"Besides, I thought you weren't coming back till tomorrow?"

Puck sat down on the deck chair opposite Burt and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah, well…"

Puck trailed off. Turns out that the thinking time that he had before finding Burt didn't really help much at all.

"I'm sorry about before and well… everything really. I treated you like crap since day one and… My mom's happy right?"

Burt's eyebrows rose in shock. He cleared his throat loudly.

"Well, I'd like to think she's happy. Why? Has she said something to you?"

Burt swore that he could feel his old heart stop beating for a moment.

"Yeah, I think she is"

Puck smiled at him. A genuine smile. Not his usual smirk that was always planted on his face.

"But really, Burt I'm sorry. I know that just saying that doesn't mean much, but I truly am sorry and if it's alright with you, I think I'll stay the night tonight and maybe for a while?"

Burt stood up and opened his arms as an invite for a hug. Puck backed away from him quickly. He didn't do hugs; in fact the only time he even remotely cuddled was in post coital bliss with his girlfriend… ex-girlfriend.

Burt walked closer to his with his arms still wide. Puck stood up from the chair and attempted at manoeuvring away from him to quickly rush inside with a salute, but Burt grabbed him from around his shoulders and pulled him in with such force that surprised Puck. For an old guy, he sure did have some muscles!

After a few moments Puck relaxed into the hug and realised how long it had been since someone had hug him like that. Burt hugged him like a father should hug his son. Puck wrapped his arms around the mans back and tried to keep the tears (he was hugging a guy, there was no way he could man-ify that!) from falling.

"You can stay here till you're as old and shrivelled up as I am!"

Puck let go of him and let out a laugh while wiping his eyes.

* * *

It had been a few days now since Rachel had broken up with Noah and she refused to dwell on it. She had to focus on herself and her voice, which at the moment was tickling! Not a good sign for a future Broadway star. She rubbed her throat in an attempt to sooth it and continued down the high school corridor into the Choir room. As she opened the heavy wooden door and cleared her throat, for once it wasn't to gain the other members of the Glee clubs attention. Her eyes watered as a sharp pain shot through her throat, but it was gone as soon as it came.

She continued into the room and sat down on one of the plastic chairs and noticed that Noah had yet to show up. She shook the thoughts from her head and opened up her backpack in search of throat lozenges. After discovering the packet, she popped one into her mouth and sat there silently sucking on it not noticing the original Gleeks staring at her, mouths dropped open in shock.

"Rachel, are you-" Tina began.

"DEAR GOD AND EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY RACHEL BERRY IS GETTING SICK!"

Kurt clutched at his head and winced as he touched a sore spot. He breathing became quick and came out in short breaths while Mercedes tried to comfort him. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"You guys, I'm not getting sick. I've just had a bit of a long weekend."

She rasped out. The Choir room door opened and all the Cheerio's and Football players strutted in. Puck came in last, walking slowly and looking at his shoes. Finn came and sat next to Rachel, giving her one of his goofy smiles. She tried to give him one back, but it turned out to be a grimace.

Mr. Shue walked in and commanded everyone's attention. He asked them to warm up their voices and nodded at Brad, at the piano, to begin. As Rachel opened her mouth she could see Kurt in the corner of her eye taking in a deep breath, but as a smooth note flew out of her mouth, he relaxed. After running through the scales once, she realised that majority of the room wasn't singing. She looked around and saw that none of the Cheerio's or Jock's were singing. Noah didn't even pretend to sing. He just sat there sullenly with his mouth closed, still looking at his shoes. Rachel looked to their teacher hoping that he'd put a stop to this, but let out an internal groan seeing him going through one of his books filled with horrible 70's power ballads.

After class Rachel rushed out of the room. She was called "intense and crazy" for as long as she could remember at this school and never really believed it until now. She knew that she couldn't just say to Mr. Shuester that she was sick of picking up everyone else's slack. He would think that she was just being diva-ish. She needed hard proof, which is why she had met up with Lauren, the president of the A/V club.

"Just tell me if you can do it, Lauren! The microphones would have to be hidden."

Lauren nodded and rushed away into the empty hallway and Rachel continued up the stairs.

The next day at Glee, Rachel looked around the room not noticing any microphones, cameras or any of the other equipment she'd asked for. She looked to the door briefly and noticed Lauren giving her a thumbs up and walking away. Rachel let out a coy smile and continued her warm-up. Noah was singing today. She could hear his deep voice behind her. Her voice cracked and she brought a hand quickly to her throat. She cleared it and began again. She could hear Kurt faltering in his notes as he stared at Rachel hoping that her voice would not crack again.

After the warm ups had finished they all sat back down in their chairs awaiting their lesson from Mr. Shuester.

"Rachel, are you ok?"

Mr. Shue grabbed one of the stools and perched himself upon it placing his notebook in his lap.

"No, I'm losing my voice because I have to keep on picking up everyone else's slack!"

The curly haired teacher began to roll his eyes before Mike spoke up.

"Mr. Shue… there's a microphone in my chair…"

Rachel let out a frustrated groan.

"I had a source put them around the room with camera's to show you, Mr. Shue, that every week at the most there is only 5 of us who actually sing. I can't handle it for much longer. My throat is killing me"

The last bit of her sentence came out as more of a whine than an actual sentence. She went to continue on, but nothing came out. Her eyes widened and Kurt started to pray nonsensical things about Regional's to Whitney Houston. Finn shifted next to her uncomfortably.

"Maybe, you should see a doctor, Rach? I mean maybe he can give you some, like, super medicine that could stop you from getting sick. I can take you after, if you want?"

Rachel nodded and searched through her bag for another packet of throat lozenges. After finding none she sat back into her chair with her arms crossed over her chest with a scowl covering her face. A small foil packet dropped into her lap and she turned around to find the culprit. She saw Noah giving her a small smile as he began to get ready to get into his dance position.

"Don't say I never gave you nothing"

He got up and walked into the middle of the room with Artie. Lifting up the packet of throat soothers, she smiled.

_I never did._

_

* * *

_

Rachel and Finn were now on their way to Lima's only doctor's office and with the way Finn was driving she would defiantly need a doctor… and a hospital because she honestly feared for her life right now! She closed her eyes and rested her head on the door and concentrated on her breathing.

_I'm going to do a Charlie's Angel's roll out of this car in 3…2…_

"Hey, Rach. Wake up. We're here."

She opened one of her eyes and sure enough, the sign in front of her said "Lima Health Clinic" she launched herself out of the car with force and took in the feel of solid ground beneath her feet. Finn came around to her and placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her inside. When Noah did that he made her feel safe and cared for, not some toddler that didn't know where she was going. She took a few large steps forward and sure enough Finn's hand dropped away.

After letting the receptionist know why she was there she was told to go and wait a few minutes in the waiting room and the doctor would be right with her. She sat down and grabbed one of the magazines flipping through it impatiently. She was sure that her voice was just stressed because she had spent the better part of the weekend crying her eyes out about Noah and making sure that she'd made the right choice.

"Rachel Berry?"

She looked up and saw an older doctor in his white coat and holding a clipboard. She smiled at him, threw her magazine onto the coffee table and grabbed Finn who was enthralled by a children's toy that he'd discovered on the ground.

After the doctor had taken a swab of the saliva that had coated her throat, he checked her hearing and eye sight before taking the swab into the lab room leaving Rachel and Finn in the cold, white room. The taller boy busied himself by wheeling himself around the room in his chair and Rachel was left with her thoughts. She hadn't realised she'd voice them out loud.

"What if he says I'll never be able to sing again?"

Finn stopped wheeling around the room long enough to console her.

"So what if he does, there are so many other awesome things about you!"

She smiled. It was the nicest thing anyone, not including Noah, had said to her in a long time.

"Really? Like what?"

Finn's face became blank before the goofy smile replaced it.

"Look, he's not going to say you'll never be able to sing again!"

Rachel frowned. She couldn't believe that she had ever liked him.

The doctor came back into the room checking his clipboard one more time.

"Bad news Rachel, you'll probably never be able to sing again."

Tears sprung to her eyes and fell freely as she let out a sob. Finn placed a hand onto her back and attempted at rubbing soothing circles onto it. She shrugged him off with a small whine.

"I'm kidding. You have severe tonsillitis which has developed into an inner ear infection. From the looks of things its not the first time, you should have had them out years ago. This is a very serious infection. Start by taking these antibiotics and if your throat isn't any better in 2 weeks, it looks like you're going to have to have the surgery. I'm sorry Rachel."

She took the prescription out of the doctor's hand and nodded. He left the room to go get his next patient and Rachel picked up her bag and searched for the lozenges that Noah had given her.

Finn waited until they were in the car to talk to her.

"Are you ok?"

Rachel continued to stare out the side window.

"I don't know"

"What are you going to do if you need the surgery?"

"I don't know"

"Do you think the surgery is a good idea?"

"I don't know, Finn! I don't know anything at the moment! I just…"

She let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding and squeezed the throat soothers Noah had given her in her hand.

"Can you take me to Kurt's house? Please?"

Finn took his eyes off the road to look at her and Rachel resisted the urge to scream at him to keep his eyes on the road at all times.

"Rachel are you sure that's a good idea?"

She nodded and wiped away a tear that had fallen. Finn checked his mirrors and pulled a u-turn that would make Kurt proud. As he pulled up outside the Hummel house Rachel collected her things and before she exited the car, she stopped.

"Finn, you were really nice to me today and I was horrible to you. I'm sorry. You didn't deserve it. Thank you for driving me around everywhere. You're a good friend."

She reached over and hugged him tightly before getting out of the car. As she walked up the pebbled path she gave Finn one of her real smiles, not a forced one. He gave her a goofy one back before driving away. Rachel raised and fist and knocked on the Hummel/Puckerman front door.


	5. Chapter 5

**Alright, I have an excuse. No, really! It's legit and everything! I don't watch Glee anymore for reason that I'm not going to post here, therefore ruining all your fun, hapiness and blah, blah, blah. So, if this isn't on par with the other chapters then that's probably just pure laziness from my end... Sorry.**

**As always, this is beta'd by _Sassy26_. So off you go to read her fics that are updated frequently and are awesome!**

**Side note: This is the last chapter and the epilogue will be posted soon with the scene that Every. Single. One. Of. You asked for. Seriously. You all asked for this scene and damnit, I'm going to give it to you... Well Puck's going to give it to Rachel, but you know what I mean ;)**

* * *

Tears streamed down Rachel's face as the reality of her situation weighed down on her. She had thought about it, but hadn't really _thought_ about it until now. Her entire life had been building towards her big career as a Broadway star. She had nothing else. Sure, she had the highest marks in every single one of her classes, but she didn't want to make a career out of her perfect Spanish pronunciation and her excelled skills at Mathematics!

She stopped crying and rubbed away the make-up that was crusting underneath her eyes. She took deep breathes to calm herself down and looked in the driveway to see if any cars were parked there to indicate that anybody was home.

The front door swung open and she tore her eyes away from the driveway to see Burt Hummel. She gave him a small smile as he gestured for her to come inside. He pointed down the corridor.

"The boys are in the lounge. I'll be in the Garage."

He squeezed her shoulder before leaving her to find Puck.

As she walked down the small hallway she took note of some of the new photos that had been framed along the wall. There was one of Noah lying asleep in his hospital bed with Hannah asleep in the chair beside him. She smiled at the memory and moved along. She could hear Kurt talking to Noah about who knew what as she came to the doorway of the Lounge room.

"A little spilt soda on this hand device never hurt anybody, especially this man! That's right, man!" Kurt let out a grunt at the end, but still held the game controller daintily.

"Alright dude. You do that, but I'm getting a cloth because this shit is disgusting!"

Puck stood up and went to walk around the coffee table, but his thoughts stopped him.

"Oh my god! Is this some kind of 'Freaky Friday' shit? Since when did our roles reverse? I knew there was something in that Man-Blush you put on me! I told you it didn't smell right!"

Kurt rolled his eyes.

"It had Paw-Paw in it. Of course it didn't smell right! You're the one who wanted to have more than what I gave you anyway! So you have nobody to blame, but yourself."

That being said, Kurt un-paused the game of Mario-Kart and started playing again without him.

With a "Whatever, man!" Puck turned around to see Rachel standing in the door way. There was a slight blush covering his face, but she chose to ignore it.

"Rachel?"

Kurt turned around, pausing his game and getting ready for his next piece of juicy gossip.

"What are you doing here?"

She looked to Kurt and he quickly pretended to play his game again, still keeping an ear out.

"Can I talk to you?"

Puck knew his girl and the crack in her voice just then? It wasn't from being sick. It was from emotional dread. Whatever she had to tell him was big. Like his mom dating Burt Hummel big!

He nodded and looked to Kurt, who turned around to look at them again and rolled his eyes. He turned the game consol off and threw everything into the cupboard haphazardly and took off downstairs to phone Brittany and invite her over.

"What's wrong?"

Rachel began to think about how she could say this to him and before she knew it, she was sobbing again and was taken up in his arms. She clutched to his shirt, drenching it with her tears. She knew he was whispering soothingly into her ear, but she couldn't hear his words of consolation over how loud her sobs were.

She finally made out the words.

"Deep breaths, Rach. In and out."

She nodded and attempted to do what he said. The first few breaths she took were shallow and didn't help much, but when he started to rub his hand up and down her back they became much easier. Once she had completely settled down and her sobs became sniffles, Puck pulled her over to the couch sat her down. They were still close enough that he could rub her back in a comforting way. With his other hand he reached over to the coffee table and grabbed the box of tissues and placed it between them.

She smiled gratefully at him before loudly blowing her nose on proffered tissue. She chose to ignore the grimace that crossed his face. She placed the used tissue inside the empty potato chip packet on the coffee table and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. _Thinking_ about never singing again she could live with, but saying it out loud made it that much more real. It couldn't be real. She wouldn't let it.

"Finn took me to the doctors just now."

She closed her eyes and let herself feel the comfort seep through Puck's hand that was rubbing her back for a few moments before continuing.

"The doctor said that chances are, I'm going to need to get my tonsils out and I might not-"

She looked away from him and took a deep shuddering breath.

"I might not be able to sing again."

She let out a sob.

"I mean, who am I without my voice?"

She let out a whine before collapsing onto his shoulder. She grabbed another tissue and wiped the crusty make-up from underneath her eyes as fresh tears flowed.

"Come on Rachel. You know that's not true. There are so many amazing things about you!"

She sat up and gave him a disbelieving look before reaching for yet another tissue. She was sure that she would need another box before the hour was up. She looked back at Noah, déjà vu suddenly washing over her. Did she not just have this conversation with Finn at the doctor's office?

"No, really!" He continued earnestly.

"I love the fact that you wear knee socks even though they haven't been popular since 19..."

He trailed off. When in the hell were they popular?

"The entire 1980's when Fame the movie and the musical came out! Although, it most likely would have been Leg Warmers, rather than Knee Socks, but-"

Puck scoffed and looked towards the kitchen. Kurt was putting the phone back on the receiver and looked over at the once in-love couple.

"Never mind."

He quickly took off out of the room with a smile and Puck continued.

"I love that you have this confidence about you, that I've never seen before in another person. It's almost like you have a fifth sense or something that stops you from doing stupid shit."

"Sixth sense"

"That's what I said."

She gave him a look.

"I love that you're so nice to everyone in Glee even though almost always they treat you like dirt, but you're still willing to help them become better; to help the _team_ become better. And I especially love that you're always willing to see the good in others, even when they still can't see it in themselves."

The look Puck gave Rachel was enough to let her know that he was talking about himself.

"That's nice and all Noah, but none of that is going to help me in the future, career wise. I refuse to wake up one day and realise I've turned into the one person I didn't want to be. I won't. I can't wind up like Shelby, Noah."

She leaned back into the couch and her hands rose up to her face to rub away any excess make-up and tears. Noah was too nice to say anything about it, but she knew she looked horrible right now. He grabbed her hands in one of his and pulled them into her lap.

"Did you know that there was this girl that I used to be really good friends with and we'd always go out and do stupid shit together?"

Rachel gave him an odd look. She had no idea where this was going. His eyes glazed over as he reminisced.

"Yeah, this girl was amazing. Every time we got caught doing something she always had my back and she would lie her ass off to get us out of trouble. Only the thing was she didn't call it lying. She called it 'acting' to prepare herself for her future career."

He gave her a pointed look.

"Sound familiar?"

Rachel looked away from him and wiped another stray tear off her cheek.

"What is your point, Noah?"

He scoffed, but explained anyway.

"Don't you get it Rachel? Your entire life you've been striving for one goal. Broadway! And to be on Broadway, you have to be good, no not good, _great_ at 3 things! Number one,"

He counted off his fingers.

"You must be able to sing, which you can".

He counted off another finger.

"Number two, you must be able to dance."

He counted off one last finger.

"And lastly, number three, you must be able to act. Singing and dancing will only get you so far, but acting you can do forever. Look at Jack Nicholson! That guy is old as fuck and he's still getting tail!"

Ignoring the last part, Rachel smiled at him. He did have a point, but being just an actress was not in her plans. When she voiced this to him she was met with another scoff and an eye roll.

"So change your plans, Rachel! You've got your whole life ahead of you. You can't live your life through a plan. You've got to be spontaneous! That's what makes everyday exciting! Like when I joined Fight Club last week!"

"You joined a Fight Club?"

Moving on from his last statement, barely taking a breath, he continued.

"Not the point, the thing is, sometimes you've just got to go with the flow and see where the wind takes you. It might surprise you where you wind up."

She took a deep breath and looked down at her shoes.

"Okay, with all that being said, what do you think I should do?"

"I can't make that choice for you, babe. I was just here to help you realise what you already know."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Rachel looked at the clock and realised that she should probably go home soon. He dads were away again for the week and she didn't like to walk home in the dark by herself.

"I should probably get going. Walk me to the door?"

Puck nodded and got off the couch, outstretching both of his hands to help her up. They silently walked down the small hallway to the front of the house. When they reached the front door, Rachel turned around to face her ex-boyfriend. For a moment she looked uncertain, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other before launching herself into his arms and whispering in his ear.

"Thank you for everything today. It really does mean a lot to me."

Puck wrapped his arms around her and squeezed.

"You know I'll always be here for you, Rach. Always."

She finally let him go and tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear.

"I know."

With a small smile she unlocked the front door and was about to leave when she felt him grab her arm, pulling her back to his chest and mash his mouth against hers in what was one of the fiercest, yet softest kisses in her life. She responded greedily and pulled his head down. She could feel his hands entangling themselves in her hair and his tongue running over her bottom lip. She opened her mouth and pressed herself more against him, relishing the contact. They could have been kissing for a few seconds or a few hours, she didn't care as long as they were still fused at each others lips.

He pulled away from her mouth and she whimpered at the loss of contact. Opening her eyes she saw him breathing heavily and his neck slightly flushed. Untangling his hands from her hair, he let them hang limply by his side.

"Are your dads out of town?"

Still trying to regain her breathing she simply nodded.

"Stay with me."

He didn't say it like a question. He said it like there was no other option. She went to hesitate, but before she could he cut her off.

"No funny business, I promise. We'll just sleep."

He gave her a smile that she knew that he only used with her. Everyone else was awarded his smirk. Grabbing her hand, they made their way down the hall towards the basement. Puck suddenly stopped at the door and mumbled something that sounded like more profanities before stepping inside. As Rachel was pulled through the entrance to the shared bedroom, she took note of the sign posted onto the door.

"DO NOT ENTER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I'M MAKING OUT WITH A GIRL."

Once they'd hit the bottom of the stairs, Rachel finally realised why Noah was so uncomfortable. He let go of her hand and grabbed one of the Vogue Magazines that was stacked next to the banister and rolled it up.

"Come on guys. Knock that shit off!"

Lying on Noah's bed was Kurt and Brittany making out. He smacked Kurt multiple times with the thick rolled up paper until they both got off his bed. Brittany at least the sense to look sorry, whilst Kurt just gave him what Puck assumed was a smirk.

"Puck, I really need you to respect my privacy. Brittany and I were just having sexual relations."

Puck's jaw dropped.

"You're not serious,"

He looked towards Rachel.

"Is he serious? Oh dear God."

This was all very surreal to him. After having what was one of the most intense conversations of his life not 30 minutes ago with Rachel, everything seemed kind of weak in comparison and because of that, he started to laugh. Not shallow chuckles, actual deep belly laughs. He could feel Rachel pulling him back up the stairs, but he couldn't resist one parting shot.

"Don't forget to use protection!"

You can't yell at him for laughing at what Brittany said next, because Rachel Berry will deny it until she dies that she laughed too.

"Does he mean like a burglar alarm?"

* * *

After watching mindless TV for an hour or so, Rachel finally spoke up.

"You know, that was kind of mean how you laughed at Kurt like that."

Puck shrugged the arm that was around her shoulder.

"He knows I didn't mean it. We're brothers. If he's really upset about it, I'll go and apologise later."

Rachel couldn't believe it. This man sitting with his arm around her and holding her other hand was the man she fell in love with, the one who would do anything for his family without asking for anything in return. She leaned over and pressed her lips lightly to his.

His brows furrowed.

"What was that for?"

She let out a breath and ignored the question.

"I want you to teach me how to play Mario Kart."

He arched an eyebrow and the look he gave her was enough to make her weak at the knees.

"Please?"

"Alright, but why?"

He got up off the couch and began to set up the gaming console, plugging in controllers and making sure the correct disk was in the slot.

Rachel stretched on the couch and move subtly into where he was sitting a few seconds ago searching for his warmth.

"I'm trying this spontaneity thing."

The smile he gave her was enough to know that she would be alright, for now at least.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, thank god!**

* * *

It had been just over a week since Rachel's doctor's appointment and her laryngitis had almost completely disappeared. She knew that she had narrowly avoided her inevitable surgery and was now extra cautious with her voice, learning to pick her battles with certain curly haired Spanish teachers.

Things between her and Noah were slowly building again and she had to admit that the pace was making her incredibly frustrated. The worst thing about it was that she felt incredibly guilty about breaking up with him in the first place. Sometimes she felt like she was walking around on egg shells and hated how tentative she was with him. If she asked for more physical contact, maybe Noah would push away from her as some sort of punishment?

They were yet to have the conversation about where they stood with each other as well. She knew that talking about feelings was not Noah's forte, but she felt that with the help of Mr. Hummel, he'd grown up a lot in the past few weeks. Having another man around the house helped relieve some of the stress he'd grown accustomed too, having grown up shouldering more responsibly than a young boy should have to, living in a single parent home.

Grabbing her books, she closed her locker door. She leaned her head against the cool metal and sighed deeply. She heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching and she forced her body not to brace itself. Not everybody in this school would throw a slushee at her… hopefully.

"Rach? You alright?"

She lifted her head to see Noah staring at her. She gave him a tight smile and nodded.

"Just tired."

He nodded and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He pressed a soft kiss to her temple and started to lead her to her next class. She closed her eyes at the feeling of his lips against her skin and tried to frame the moment in her mind. She loved these moments between them; no matter how small they seemed, they were always what she missed when they were apart.

* * *

Puck pressed down hard on the button of his playstation control, causing his player on the screen to lurch forward a few paces ahead of Rachel's. He briefly looked over at the girl sitting on the floor beside him, with her tongue stuck out in concentration. In the past week Rachel had nearly mastered the entire MarioKart game. She had moved from wanting to play Peach ("I'm your Jewish Princess, Noah, so I must be her!"), to fighting with him over who got to be Yoshi.

Before he knew it, Rachel had left his character for dust and claimed the first place trophy. He wiped away the sweat that had gathered on his forehead and ignored the stupid (fucking cute) dance Rachel was doing right in front of his face.

"Hey Noah,"

He looked up from watching her hips wriggle and arched his eyebrow questioningly at her.

"Say it."

_Say it? Say what? Oh! __**Fuck.**_

She quickly climbed into his lap to stop him from getting off the couch and running away. With a quick peck on the lips she stared him down.

"Say it, Noah. You promised!" she sing-songed.

He tried to look away because he knew that if he started into those deep chocolate eyes much longer, he would cave. Maybe it was just his man-pride or something, but he refused to give Rachel the satisfaction.

He knew he was really in for it though when the chanting started.

"Say it, say it, say it, say it, say it!"

Was it him, or was her voice getting all husky and sexy-like as she spoke into his ear, where he could feel the play of her hot breath against the side of his neck?

He let out a groan and complied, "Fine! Rachel Berry is more badass than Noah Puckerman."

He could hear Burt in the kitchen trying to muffle his chuckles; obviously it wasn't working very well.

"Happy?"

The smile she gave him was almost enough for him to want to scream it to the entire world.

"I'm ecstatic," she beamed.

She kissed him lightly on the cheek before he caught her lips with his. They stayed that way for a while, trading small kisses and smiles, never going deeper. She ran her fingers through the back of his 'hawk and he had to stop his eyes from rolling into the back of his head from the sensation.

"Don't you guys have a bedroom for that?"

Rachel blushed a deep crimson and got off Puck's lap, "Sorry Burt."

Noah just smirked as he got off the couch, helping Rachel up too. He led her to the basement where Kurt was in the middle of his usual night-time regime.

* * *

Ever since moving into the Hummel household, Puck knew to stay away from the room he shared with his new brother when Beyonce was playing. There were all kinds of crazy happenings in (and around!) that vicinity when B was blasting 100% on their stereo. He didn't really care that Kurt would be dancing around in a leotard, but when he started booty shaking in his face? Yeah, that was just uncalled for.

But today….today there was something strange going on. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he sensed that this wasn't a regular one man Beyonce dance party. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard muffled voices and high pitched laughter from behind the closed door, and he prayed to all the gods that Kurt wasn't having another week where he was trying out girls again. Then came one sharp giggle that he knew from experience was Brittany's.

"Yes! Kurt! Just like that! Harder! Yes, yes, yes!"

He ran towards his bedroom, and then halted. What if Kurt was doing the nasty with Brittany right now? Did he really want to witness any horizontal tangos if he wasn't part of it?

Another giggle sounded, and if he didn't know any better, he would swear that was his girlfriend. He pushed the door open with force. It's a good thing he didn't know any better then.

There was Kurt, Brittany and Rachel all dressed in short shorts, shaking their asses to 'Crazy In Love.'

His jaw dropped. What in the holy hell was going on?

They hadn't noticed him yet, so they kept shaking away and you couldn't force his gaze from his girlfriend even if you removed his eyes from his head with a rusty spoon. Rachel was wearing a pair of denim shorts and a plaid blue shirt that looked vaguely familiar.

As the song kept playing, their positions around the room changed. Rachel was now facing him as she did some complicated dance movements that he knew she was only able to do due to her intense dance training every week. As she lifted her leg over her shoulder, he found his own head tilting to watch. This girl was going to be the death of him.

"PUCK!"

Kurt stopped dancing, embarrassed at being caught, clearly in his element, and shortly after so did the music. Puck was still at a loss for words. The only things floating around in his head right now was the mental image of shaking asses and the words 'SPANK BANK'. His eye was twitching, but it was like he wasn't even in control of his body right now.

"Did anybody feed him today? Sometimes my cat does that." Brittany commented vaguely.

With Rachel's laughter in the background, he grumbled before leaving the room, pretending he hadn't seen a thing. When he shut the door, the music started back up again. He now had a not so little problem and nowhere/no one to solve it.

* * *

By nightfall, they were still dancing in his room and none of them had come up for air at all, except for Brittany who grabbed a pitcher of water and three glasses before going back downstairs. If he heard another Beyonce song today, he was going to banish her from the house… or blow his brains out. Whichever was easiest.

He turned on the television and channel surfed until he settled with a Cops rerun. Making himself comfortable with cushions and blankets, he was sure there was a long night ahead of him. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long because Brittany was leaving now and was blowing air kisses his way. With a brief wave from him, she was out the door.

He turned his attention back to the TV knowing Rachel would soon come and cuddle with him. When he heard the shrill ring of her phone, he cursed his luck; he knew that tone belonged to one of her fathers.

When she answered the phone, he left the couch and made his way downstairs. Rachel was standing the middle of the room, talking quietly to one of her dad's. He wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled his nose against her neck, pressing soft kisses to the flesh there. He could hear a few select words like 'flu' and 'food poisoning', but what stood out was "Do you think it would be alright for you to stay there tonight with Kurt?"

He smirked at the fact her dad's chose to ignore that he lived there too. Maybe his luck was turning around tonight? All of a sudden he was feeling _very _lucky. She ended the call with a 'get well soon' and a kiss through the phone before throwing the device onto his bed.

Turning her head, she kissed his cheek before telling him what he already knew.

"My dad either has food poisoning or the flu, so I'll be staying here tonight."

After thinking over her words, she was quick to fix her mistake. "I mean, if that's alright with you? I know that we've only just gotten back together, so if this is moving to fast for-"

"Rachel, shut up."

With that, he silenced her with a fierce kiss that almost knocked all the breath out of her. Turning around in his arms, she fingered the collar of his shirt, running her hands along the back of his neck.

Lifting her up, Puck moved them onto his bed, carefully knocking her phone away before sliding his body over hers slowly. Wedging a knee between her legs, he ran his hands over her waist, moving upwards towards the buttons on her shirt. He felt a crisp part of fabric and frowned. Opening his eyes and detaching himself from her lips, he noticed the burn marks at collar of her shirt. Cigarette burn marks.

"This is my shirt."

Rachel was quick to deny it, but he could tell that she knew she was busted. With a knowing look, she relented.

"Fine, it's yours. Happy?"

With a mumbled "more than" he continued kissing down her neck and unbuttoning her (his) shirt.

They failed to hear the dainty footsteps coming gracefully down the concrete steps. What they didn't fail to hear was the shocked squeal that followed.

"What are you doing to her?"

Dropping his head onto her shoulder, Puck cursed Kurt's timing. Rachel was quick to fasten her top and apologize. Pushing Puck off of her, she tried to make herself presentable. With an arm thrown over his eyes, he couldn't help, but comment.

"Dude, when the bed's a rockin', don't come a knockin'!"

She glared at Puck before making her way to leave the room with some (more) of her boyfriend's clothes, calling out that she was having a shower and leaving Puck to explain to Kurt that she was crashing for the night and the reason why.

After spending a healthy amount of time in the bathroom, Rachel came back into the darkened basement empty handed after throwing her sweaty clothes into the wash basket. Climbing into bed, she realised Noah wasn't wearing a shirt. She snuggled into his side and he shifted his body to mould around hers. They were face to face and he brushed away the bangs that were falling into her eyes.

"Puck?" a sleepy voice mumbled.

"Yeah, bro?"

"Don't violate my diva tonight."

With crossed fingers, not looking away from Rachel's eyes, he replied,

"Sure thing, Kurt."

* * *

Rachel hid underneath her boyfriend's down comforter, so you could only see her eyes. Puck quietly rolled off his bed to look at the top half of the bunk bed that he and his step-brother shared, to see said brother sleeping, clutching a make-up brush.

Puck quickly got back into his bed, pulling Rachel underneath him. Threading his fingers through her hair, he lazily kissed her. It felt like hours before he even bothered to move his hands anywhere other than her waist. Slowly, he inched her (his!) t-shirt off of her warm body and silently deposited the offending item onto the carpeted floor and kissed down her neck softly.

Moving his hands, he finally massaged her breasts and sought out her mouth again. Wrapping a leg around his waist, she drew his body closer to hers. When he detached his lips from her own, she let out a whimper which turned into a whine as he travelled down her neck towards her chest. Kissing the crevice between two of his favourite things, he kissed across to one of her most sensitive areas.

With a gentle suckle, her back arched, hoping for more contact. Unfortunately, this movement shook the whole bed and both of them stilled instantly. There wasn't any indication that Kurt had awoken. With a sigh of relief, Noah went right back to business. Realising that there was only a short window of opportunity tonight, he had to get a move on.

With a quick squeeze of her breasts, he moved both hands down to Rachel's (Puck's) boxers and cupped her behind. He looked up and smirked at her before hastily sliding the offending item off.

When he put his open mouth on her, all she could think was that aside from his smile, this was her second favourite thing he could do with his mouth. Running her nails over his scalp, she let out a muffled moan and pushed his head closer to her core. When he started lapping at her, she wanted to cry; it had been so long since she had had this sort of pleasure.

With her feet, she tried to shove his pants off his hips, but every movement she made only added fuel to the fire that was beginning to burn deep in her stomach causing herpleasure and she would to forget what she was doing as soon as she started. She mumbled a protest when he detached from where he had been suckling her clit, leaving her right on the edge as he trailed wet kisses back up her body to claim her mouth, sliding his tongue against her lips. She couldn't taste anything, but herself on his tongue and she never thought she had been so aroused.

Puck grabbed her legs and she wrapped them around his hips. He rubbed his groin against her and she could feel his hard length already. She let out another small whine and moaned his name into his ear.

He smirked and ran his hand over her naked breasts. Rachel's hands once again strayed to his hips, intent on ridding him of his pants, but he grabbed her small hands with one of his and held them prisoner against her stomach. Then came a muffled (tame) curse and Puck laughed at her frustration.

He reached into the crevice between the wall and the bed, pulling out a reel of condoms. Raising an eyebrow, Rachel gave him a look.

"No glove, no love, baby."

Kissing her roughly, she could feel him shuffling around, presumably shucking his sweat pants to the floor. He sat up quickly to rip open the foil package and she could feel him hard and pulsing against her thigh. Resisting the urge to let out a loud, impatient moan, she fisted the sheets above her head before reaching down to pump his length a few times before positioning him where she needed him.

Kissing away the crease between her brows, he started to fill her. He slammed his mouth against hers, swallowing any screams she would have released. Once they were fully joined, she grasped his back and wrapped her legs around his waist, holding his body tight against hers.

Even though it wasn't her first time, she didn't think she would ever get over this feeling, being joined with Noah in the most intimate way possible. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder before slowly lifting his hips. With a gasp, she finally realised how bad of an idea this was. Kurt was not even 3 feet above them and there was no way she would be able to keep quiet if making love with her boyfriend was already this intense.

As he slid back into her, she stifled a gasp and her back arched on its on accord. His hand fell to her hip and gave it a quick squeeze as he reared his hips again. She was breathing hard as he started to go faster. She rolled her hips underneath him as he slammed back into her.

As the two lovers continued their tryst, the bunk bed started to shake and slide along with their movements. The person sleeping in the top bunk started to dream of walls of water crashing against tall ships.

With minimal effort, Noah started to hit that sweet spot inside her. As she let out a cry he brought his lips away from her neck, he pressed soft kisses against her jaw. Moving the hand that was grasping her hip hard enough to leave finger shaped bruises, he slid it down to her clit and started rubbing a rhythm she couldn't follow even if she tried.

As she started to shake, she brought her hands up to his cheeks and pulled his lips tighter to hers. Wrapping her legs around him tightly, she let go with a scream that was contained by his mouth. Noah kept thrusting right through her climax until she felt him swell inside her.

He dropped his body onto her, knowing that Rachel loved being a close as possible as soon as they were both done. Running her fingers down his spine, she could feel the muscles in his back twitch as he started to relax. Any minute now she knew she would fall asleep, but Noah had yet to remove himself from her body and put clothes back on so they wouldn't scare poor Kurt in the morning.

His breathing was lulling her to sleep and if she didn't get up now, she wouldn't be for the rest of the night. She pushed at his shoulders until he got the message and started to rise off her sweaty body. As he pulled out of her, they both hissed at the loss of contact.

When he got up to dispose of the condom, he threw Rachel her pyjama's from the floor and walked stark naked towards the bin on the other side of the bedroom. With a yawn, he pulled his shorts back on and climbed into bed. As his girlfriend climbed back into his arms, the top bunk started to sway as the person in it moved. As a reflex, Puck slammed his eyes closed and let out a loud, husky snore.

The shaking stopped almost immediately. Rachel's body tensed as she held her breath, listening out for any signs that Kurt might be awake. After a few moments, she relaxed and snuggled up against the warm body of her boyfriend.

With one last kiss, they both fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

All she could think of the next day was the Mamma Mia! Reference (A movie in which Noah had voluntarily taken her to son their 24th date, not realising that she despised ABBA with every fibre of her being. "They were singing and shit in it. How was I spos'd to know you'd hate it?") "And then one thing led to another and dot, dot, dot!" The words haunted her as she looked at Kurt's pale face.

Of course Noah was finding this hilarious. He sat at the end of the kitchen table giggling like a little school girl. Burt had gone to the supermarket in search of some Pepto for poor little Kurt who had come down with a bout of "dehydration, from all the dancing yesterday."

After a few minutes and Noah's incessant giggling, Kurt finally spoke. Still staring straight ahead, his pale lips started to move.

"My place of rest has been violated…"

With a snort, Puck finally stopped.

"Dude, we didn't fuck in your coffin!"

Rachel rolled her eyes and started to shoo Puck out of the room where his giggles turned into full on belly laughs. Once the door to the kitchen was shut, she sat down in front of Kurt again. Slowly taking his hand as to not startle him, she began to apologise the only way she knew how.

As she opened her mouth to let the first few notes of the song take hold of her, Kurt snatched his hand away from hers.

"Don't start singing, Rachel. I've been scared for life. Somebody ring Oprah's people. I've got her weekly special."

Bringing his hands to massage his temples, Burt came into the kitchen holding shopping bags in each hand and tried to assess the situation.

"What's the weekly special?"

Rachel sent a desperate look to Kurt which went by unnoticed.

* * *

After spending nearly 4 hours in IKEA, Puck and Burt were now attempting to assemble two double beds while pulling apart the bunk bed. Rachel was upstairs in the main bathroom receiving a "You've ruined my life and you'll let me give you a makeover or I will steal every solo you're given for the rest of your life" makeover.

After one eyebrow had been waxed, she could hear both of the men downstairs swearing at Sweden, the occasional bashing of metal against the concrete floor and an electric power saw. It was probably safer down there than inside the small bathroom with Kurt.

She wouldn't lie, the light blue denim skinny jeans that she had been forced into were quite comfortable and they would keep her warm during the colder months too. She just preferred her skirts and tights. They felt less confined and claustrophobic and it wasn't exactly a bad thing that her boyfriend liked her in them too.

Once she had been instructed to stand up and twirl for Kurt, she had been deemed 'acceptable for now' and was welcome to go downstairs to see how the construction was going. It had been silent for a few minutes now and she couldn't tell if that was a good or a bad thing.

As she quietly slipped down the stairs she noticed that Noah was running through the diagnostics of his condom dispenser.

"See, instead of tape, you just wrap it around the plastic holder thing and you're good to go."

"Amazing!"

Clearing her throat, she raised a newly shaped brow and Burt's cheeks flushed a deep red.

"Yes, yes, as I was saying, you need to fit Part A into Part B using Part C."

Lifting up random bits of metal around him, Noah searched for any of the parts mentioned.

"Do you realise how fucking ridiculous this is? We've obviously grabbed a box of scrap metal or something!"

With a sigh, Burt stood up, placing the instructions on the nearby desk.

"Let's get some lunch and come back to it later."

Walking up the stairs, Noah slapped Rachel's behind and with a "Lookin' good, baby" thrown over his shoulder, he left the room.

Reaching over and picking up the instructions, Rachel gave it a quizzical look. She thought it must have all been written in gibberish the way the men had been crying over it.

_Part A into Part B?_

Picking up a piece of metal that she noticed had a little sticker with the letter 'A' on it; she placed it on the table with the instructions.

A few minutes later, she had put together the top half of one of the bed frames. She heard the bedroom door open and Kurt walked inside. With a small smile, he came over and looked at the instructions with her.

10 minutes later they both had finished putting together the first bed frame and were starting on the second. Whilst Rachel wound the last bolt in, Kurt had gone into the Linen closet in search for fresh sheets and blankets.

Deciding that the mattresses were too heavy for them to lift onto the newly built frames and that the bunk bed was a whole other world of problems considering it was leaning on one side and the top bunk was upside down, they left the room to get have lunch with the boys.

Grabbing the water pitcher and salad from the refrigerator, Kurt and Rachel made their healthy, leafy sandwiches and trying to ignore the grunting of cavemen coming from the table.

After wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Puck stood up and dumped his plate into the sink to be washed later on and Burt followed.

"Alright, Time to make Sweden our bitch."

With a swagger that a 40 plus year old man shouldn't posses, Burt led them both down the hall and into the basement.

Looking around the room, Puck was the picture of shock, jaw dropped and eyes wide. Swallowing thickly he began to speak.

"We have two options here. We can 1. Let them take credit for this and let them hold it over our heads for the rest of our lives, or 2. Not mention a thing and hope for the best."

"I like option 2."

"Agreed."

With a quick handshake, they both started to disassemble the bunk bed, like father and son.

_**~FIN~**_

* * *

I wanted to give a MASSIVE thank you to one of my closest Glee friends, **Sassy26**, also known as Kelly! I recently had the chance to meet her and we saw the Glee movie together (it was only fitting considering the only reason we became friends is because of the show.) Since then, the conversations that have taken place have been beyond hysterical and I've told her things that nobody else knows. So at least one great thing came from this show. Thank you so much Kel for the time and effort you put into helping me create this monster!

So, I hope this fic met your expectations. Did it go in the direction you thought it would? I mean, it couldn't be as bad as the train wreck season 2 was (yes, I'm still bitter over it), but still, I'm interested on your thoughts and feelings.

**Thank you to all of those who stuck with this fic till the very end!**


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